AEFJN Newsletter  European Office N. 38 March 2010

Note from the Secretariat : We want to thank in a special way  those who publish « Africa File » for their commitment and  the precious information we receive from them.

Weak arms control standards
A report into the massacre at Conakry in Guinea has found that weak arms control standards in Europe and Africa contributed to the events of last September, when 156 people were killed or disappeared, and at least 109 women were subjected to sexual violence. The report, published by Amnesty International reveals how weapons and security equipment from South Africa and France were used during the event.  Reacting to the report, Dr Cherif Karamo, coordinator of West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. "We have to fight so justice can be found and that the responsible people face trial at the International Criminal Court, because impunity fuels human right violations."
www.iansa.org

The Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence: 10-16 May 2010
The Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence highlights the international campaign to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms.
Each year activists around the world use the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence to raise awareness, campaign for better gun laws and push for stronger regulation of the global arms trade.
In 2009 IANSA members in more than 90 countries highlighted the human cost of small arms proliferation and misuse; they also demanded that governments enact policies that put their citizens' security first. Civil society organisations taking part in the Week of Action organised public events, conducted media work, and generally engaged more people in the global movement against gun violence. They publicised the UN small arms process, emphasised the importance of an Arms Trade Treaty, promoted implementation of the UN Firearms Protocol, and supported policies linking armed violence and development, among other activities. Also in 2009, the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign was launched with over 30 events worldwide. The goal of the campaign is to ensure that anyone with a history of domestic abuse is denied access to a firearm, and has their license revoked.
See more details of the Global Week of Action 2009 here: http://www.iansa.org/campaigns_events/WoA2009/index.htm
Every year the Global Week of Action gets bigger. We want you to help make the Global Week of Action 2010 the biggest yet.
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www.iansa.org

A strong African voice in climate talks
 by Ernest Harsch
http://www.ghanaweb.com
Africa learned one big lesson from the Copenhagen conference on climate change: that they can influence and benefit more when it comes together as one. The author describes how Africa played its game at the conference and what they came out with. JMPA
http://www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=14523
Far too often, African leaders have been unable to present a united front on the world stage. Not this time around. At the Copenhagen climate talks, the continent fielded a single negotiating team, and it paid off. Africa Renewal examines this new and welcome shift. Months before the Copenhagen conference on climate change, the African Union (AU) decided that the continent should participate in a more united, coherent manner than it often does at such international gatherings, by designating Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as the lead negotiator for the continent. Africa often finds itself on the margins of international negotiations and usually is excluded from backroom bargaining. But in Copenhagen, by fielding a single negotiating team African leaders did work together in other to ensure that the continent's voice was prominently heard.

Tanzania : Small miners press for review of mining laws
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=17528
Kalalani mining village small scale miners in Korogwe District, Tanga Region, have called on the government to streamline mining laws to enable artisanal miners access mining licenses. The plea was made at Kalalani village during an interview with reporters from Tanga and Arusha regions who toured a women and mining project in the area. Speaking on behalf of artisanal miners in the village, acting village government chairman, Mr Amanth Ngereka, said procedures for accessing prospecting and mining licenses were too cumbersome and mostly favoured wealthy people. Mr Ngereka said artisanal miners are the ones who discover minerals and gemstones, but difficult procedures normally make them fail to acquire prospecting licenses and mining rights. "A miner is required to pay up to Sh400,000 fee for registration," one miner claimed. An artisanal miner cannot afford the high fee as he/she must have spent a fortune during prospecting,"Mr Ngereka noted. He also cited costs of hiring mining officers to survey plots and employ labour to set up boundaries. A woman miner, Ms Janet Gurisha, pointed out that the absence of markets close to mining areas, also affected artisanal and small scale miners as they are forced to sell their minerals to brokers who offer mean prices. She also spoke of lack of loan facilities that could enable small scale miners, especially women, to acquire modern mining equipment.

Burkina Faso : Meningitis outbreak kills 246
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61P1FI.htm
Health officials in the west African country of Burkina Faso are worried about an increase in deaths from meningitis which has killed 246 people so far this year, up from 203 in the same period last year.

Africa more vulnerable to non-communicable diseases
http://www.afrol.com/articles/35451
With often preventable, non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory illness accounting for 60 percent of all global deaths, experts from around the world gathered at a United Nations forum to draw up plans to reverse the trend.

Chad:Influence of petroleum on conflict dynamics
Claudia Frank and Lena Guesnet
www.bicc.de
The Chad/Cameroon pipeline project was to be a model to prove that investment in oil can yield positive results in terms of poverty reduction and development. This BICC brief 41, however, shows that oil revenues are insufficiently invested into development sectors, such as health and education. The population living in the production area in the south of Chad suffers from environmental degradation and receives only insufficient reparations for their deteriorating living conditions. The paper discusses conflict around revenue governance, addresses impacts of new oil fields and the role of the Chinese state-owned oil company China National Petroleum Corporation, and investigates how oil production has influenced the regional conflict system between Chad, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

Africa’s land and family farms – up for grabs?
Joan Baxter
www.grain.org; www.farmlandgrab.org
http:///seedling/?id=666
The whole article is very interesting but too long to appear in our NEWS. You can find it at the address above or through Africa File Africa InfoServ [ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]
To make African agriculture commercially as profitable as AGRA aims to do, the Gates Foundation admits it may be necessary to promote “land mobility” - in other words - remove smallholder farmers from their land.
Over the years many Big Ideas have been imposed on Africa from outside. The latest is that the region should sell or lease millions of hectares of land to foreign investors, who will bring resources and up-to-date technology. None of the blueprints has worked, and African farmers have become increasingly impoverished. It is time for Africans to turn to their own histories, knowledge and resources.

Eritrea: Mining to defy sanctions ?
Opinion, Yosief Ghebrehiwet
http://asmarino.com
In this opinion piece the author calls for tightened sanctions and a change in government. Unless sanctions are tightened on the repressive regime western mining companies will do as they please. Canadian, British, Chinese, and other countries have mining companies lined up to do business in impoverished Eritrea. Local people forced from their land work for the mining companies in near slave labour conditions.
Western mining companies: Throwing a lifeline to a brutal regime in Eritrea
http://asmarino.com/articles/562-eritrea-sanctions-watch-western-mining-companies-throwing-a-lifeline-to-a-brutal-regime-in-eritrea
The probability of regime change in Eritrea will dramatically increase if the UNSC-imposed sanctions (UNSC Resolution 1907) would be able to halt the mining prospects that are set to start in huge scales in 2010. We know that there is no provision for comprehensive economic sanctions like that of South Africa in the proposal; at least, not yet. But they will surely have an impact, be it direct or indirect, on all the mining companies that are lined up to do business in Eritrea.